For hearing instrument usage as well as hearing protection usage, there is a need for detecting and classifying an acoustic environment to be an impulse environment. An impulse environment is an acoustic environment where sounds of short duration, high energy and having very short rise times, are occurring with some frequency over time. An impulse environment may for example be experienced during a military training session with firearms, or during a canteen visit with noise from cutlery.
In impulse environments, users of hearing protection devices, hearing aids, headsets, etc., typically experience discomfort.